In this application a visually detectable pattern, also denoted as a label or visual image herein below, is understood to be a pattern that can be recognized and interpreted by an individual without additional means.
US Published Application 2004/0062179 describes an optical disc recording apparatus capable of forming a visually detectable image on an optical disc. The visually detectable image comprises for example a logo, a sequence of characters or a combination thereof. In this way a user does not need a reading device to recognize the contents of the optical disc. A simple visual inspection suffices.
The known recording apparatus reserves a central part of the optical disc for storage of data and a peripheral part for the visually detectable image. Once the image is arranged at the periphery, the full remaining area on the disc is not available for recording data. Only a dedicated recording apparatus aware of the peripheral visually detectable image is capable of adding data in the remaining area of the disc. Therefore, in this way it is only possible to apply the image after the optical disc is finalized.